More unwritten rules

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hilltopwildcat
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More unwritten rules

Post by hilltopwildcat » February 1st, 2020, 4:55 am

I'm done with the particulars of the skirmish in larryville. I just want to express how incidents like that drift down to lower levels of competition.

I had a game at a small high school tonight. 1 team was clearly better and led 52-14 at half. The coach who was ahead had his starters in to start the 2nd half. I get it. They were undefeated until their last 2 games and had gotten spanked in 1 and lost a close game on Tuesday. The mercy rules in that state provide for a running clock anytime in the 2nd half that the lead is 35 points or better. It will continue to run until that lead is shrunk to 25, when a team is shooting free throws, when a team calls time-out or stoppage for injury or something else. Therefore, we started the 2nd half with a running clock. The beatdown continued. The starters played for at least 5 minutes before a few subs began to work their way in. You could sense the frustration of the trailing team slowly building. Some starters stayed in until the early stages of the 4th quarter and then played for small amounts of time after that. Their lead extended to in the 50's as the leading team continued to ball hawk and pressure substitutes for the trailing team. Then the leading team ran the subs in and voila....the trailing team slapped a press on them with their starters. Another unwritten rule, you don't press the other team's subs with your starters when the leading team has made wholesale substitutions. When the subs for both teams were in the game it then became rough. I'm not sure whether it was on purpose or just lack of skill. It slowly built to the point where as the game was in the final seconds a player for the losing team absolutely mauled a home team player. I'll admit it looked a lot like the kid was just clumsy but he took the shooter to the floor. At that point, a player on the winning team, wearing a tie, jumped up, took a step onto the court and started giving a death stare to the kid who just fouled. I'm not sure if he saw it or not but 2 other players did. I sprinted across the floor and sat that player back down although for a minute I thought he was going to challenge me. An assistant coach noticed and quickly took care of that player. The game ended without incident and afterward the athletic director explained that the kid was not a candidate for class valedictorian. He was not playing because he had failed a class and in the ad's words "doesn't understand that's why he's not playing".

There are a couple of things here. To my understanding, the unwritten rules will say that your starters can start the 2nd half and play for awhile as you really want them to get adequate playing time especially if they're trying to re-establish a winning feeling. But when it's over, you sub in and let the other guys play so they get some experience. When that doesn't happen, then things get chippy. The losing coach had said very little the whole game. He was taking his ass-kicking like a man. When the starters continued to play and the score got worse and some small showboating started going on, then he became agitated. That spread to his team. In the 4th quarter, 1 of his starting guards tried to block a shot on a breakaway from behind, ended up knocking the taller kid to the floor and then hitting his nose on the kid's foot. Bloody mess. That calmed things for a minute. Again, it's unwritten that your starters are not running out shooting layups when you're up 50 in the 4th quarter.

These unwritten rules mostly deal with the sportsmanship of the game. They've been developed over decades. With the influx of newer officials into officiating, sometimes these things aren't handled quickly and correctly and lead to bigger, more serious incidents. That's why I feel it's very important for college athletics to take a lead role in demonstrating sportsmanship. NBS or other pro sports, who cares?

Puffdad
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Post by Puffdad » February 1st, 2020, 9:04 am

Two good posts to explain why the unwritten rules are so important to protect the integrity of the game and honestly to protect from fights and suspensions.

tmcats
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Pick 'Em

Post by tmcats » February 1st, 2020, 9:48 am

some coaches are just azzholes; billy tubbs in hoops, steve spurrier and john heisman in football come to mind. bobby bowden and bill snyder were accused in their day as well from time to time. just ask larry smith and bo pelini about the wizard. :lol:
Last edited by tmcats on February 1st, 2020, 9:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
Why is there something rather than nothing?

wild@nite
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Pick 'Em

Post by wild@nite » February 1st, 2020, 9:53 am

Agreed. Here's one for you. I witnessed a JV coach yelling out 5-4-3-2-1 with 12 seconds on the clock at the end of a quarter just two weeks ago. Talk about Bush League. No admin said anything to him. If I were his HC, I would've flipped. Some people just don't get sportsmanship.

hilltopwildcat
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Post by hilltopwildcat » February 1st, 2020, 10:43 am

wild@nite wrote:
February 1st, 2020, 9:53 am
Agreed. Here's one for you. I witnessed a JV coach yelling out 5-4-3-2-1 with 12 seconds on the clock at the end of a quarter just two weeks ago. Talk about Bush League. No admin said anything to him. If I were his HC, I would've flipped. Some people just don't get sportsmanship.
Do administrators fear for their jobs so much that they don't take charge of those situations? Our principal was real cool BUT you didn't cross him. We had a bunch of football players who cheered for the basketball team but liked to walk the line on their sportsmanship. 1 night they crossed it and he cleaned the section out before the cheer ended (no profanity). Would any administrator do that today? Does that reflect on school boards and society in general?

bigpurpleman
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Post by bigpurpleman » February 1st, 2020, 10:51 am

Unwritten rule. Good grief. Write them down if they're so important to the integrity and well being of the game.

Hypeman
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Post by Hypeman » February 1st, 2020, 11:15 am

These should just be called the “don’t be a d-bag rules”. Those that can’t follow them will eventually get what’s coming to them.

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Post by Wyldkatz » February 1st, 2020, 12:14 pm

It happens at all levels. Did anyone see the end of the Knicks v Grizzlies game last night?

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Post by Puffdad » February 1st, 2020, 1:07 pm

Hypeman wrote:
February 1st, 2020, 11:15 am
These should just be called the “don’t be a d-bag rules”. Those that can’t follow them will eventually get what’s coming to them.
Exactly right. The few coaches who don’t figure it out fairly quickly get “taught” pretty quickly. Coaches may fight like heck to beat each other within the rules but the d-bags who want to be idiots and not understand the unwritten rules get ganged up on and taught very quickly. If they don’t learn they seem to not keep a job or find other jobs anywhere!!! Self enforcing. The “word” gets around.

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Post by Opensource » February 1st, 2020, 2:03 pm

Is there any training or certifications necessary to coach in middle and high school in Kansas?

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